science

Geo (microformat)

Geo (microformat) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Geo (microformat) rather than just read about it. In short: Geo is a microformat used for marking up geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) in HTML (or XHTML). Coordinates are expected in angular units of degrees and geodetic datum WGS84.

Key takeaways

Geo (microformat) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Geo (microformat) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Geo (microformat) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Geo is a microformat used for marking up geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) in HTML (or XHTML). Coordinates are expected in angular units of degrees and geodetic datum WGS84. Although termed a "draft" specification, the format is a de facto standard, stable and in widespread use; not least as a sub-set of the published hCalendar and hCard microformat specifications, neither of which is still a draft. Use of Geo allows parsing tools (for example other websites, or Firefox's Operator extension) to extract the locations, and display them using some other website or web mapping tool, or to load them into a GPS device, index or aggregate them, or convert them into an alternative format.

Usage If latitude is present, so must be longitude, and vice versa. The same number of decimal places should be used in each value, including trailing zeroes. The Geo microformat is applied using three HTML classes. For example, the marked-up text:

becomes:

by adding the class-attribute values "geo", "latitude" and "longitude". This will display

and a geo microformat for that location, Belvide Reservoir, which will be detected, on this page, by microformat parsing tools.

hCard Each Geo microformat may be wrapped in an hCard microformat, allowing for the inclusion of personal, organisational or venue names, postal addresses, telephone contacts, URLs, pictures, etc.

Extensions There are three proposals, none mutually-exclusive, to extend the geo microformat:

geo-extension - for representing coordinates on other planets, moons etc., and with non-WGS84 schema geo-elevation - for representing altitude geo-waypoint - for representing routes and boundaries, using waypoints

Users Organisations and websites using Geo include:

Flickr - on over three million photo pages Geograph - on over one million photo pages Google Multimap - all map pages OpenStreetMap - wiki pages about places, GPS traces and diary entries Wikipedia - embedded in geo templates of map-link pages German Wikipedia - ditto Dutch Wikipedia - ditto Swedish Wikipedia - ditto Italian Wikipedia Wikivoyage Multiple organisations publishing hCard include a geo as part of that.

h-geo An alternative to Geo, h-geo, has been proposed. This is applied using three HTML classes. For example:

by adding the class-attribute values "h-geo", "p-latitude", "p-longitude", and "p-altitude".

See also GeoSPARQL, Geographic Information System (GIS) data for the W3C Semantic Web using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and SPARQL Geo URI specified in RFC 5870 ISO 6709 ICBM address, an older geotagging format Schema.org, web standard schema.org/geo.

Notes

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Geo (microformat)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Geo (microformat) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Geo (microformat) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Geo (microformat) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Geo (microformat)

In research: Geo (microformat) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Geo (microformat) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Geo (microformat) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geocodes, Microformats, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Geo (microformat) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Geo (microformat) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Geo (microformat) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Geo (microformat) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Geo (microformat) in simple terms?

Geo is a microformat used for marking up geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) in HTML (or XHTML). Coordinates are expected in angular units of degrees and geodetic datum WGS84.

Why does Geo (microformat) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Geo (microformat)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Geo (microformat).